Muff's Modules & More

[wowarz]

I was wondering how old are you guys when you started dreaming of a Buchla System and finally being able to afford one.

Have some of you been with Buchla from day one or has it been more like some kind of progress?

[legionhwp]

Took me about 25 years to get there. I remember reading old serge and guitar catalogs (things used to be printed you know ) as a teenager. I didn't know what any of those things were really but I had played with an arp odysessy in music class in jr high school (how cool of a music teacher was THAT!) and Buchla was a name I heard even back then.

Once I started getting into synths it was years to get to a modular. Then about 12-15 years to get to a Buchla.

Definitely a progression which went something like:

- String of guitar stomp boxes/effects
- dx27
- Juno 106/pro 1
- ms20
- arp 2600/ doepfer
- Blacet/frac stuff
- Fenix
- modcanA
- serge
- Buchla

Add a few dozen synths and drum machines along the way of course

[solaris]

[Lyonel]

I had never heard of, or seen a Buchla three years ago, and never touched a modular previously.…
I'm 53.

[7thDanSound]

I started with synths X-mas of 99 with a TB303. Got into modulars with a Doepfer case in 2002. Quickly changed to synthesizers.com in -03 and filled a 44-space and some change with .com and 3rd party during the next 6-7 years. Bought a house, built a studio and had two kids during the same period.

First tried old 200 series and new 200e series around -04, the first system in Sweden I'm pretty sure. Alway coveted them since then but not until late 2010 I got my first module, a 259e. Planned to stay small but in the year plus since then I've almost filled an 18wls.

I am 32, for another month

[xart]

Intrest in Buchla since the early 80's when I read an interview with Don ( in Keyboard mag. 1982.) I am now over 40, still single - no kids - live with a cat and a buchla.

I use modulars as a fun and creative critical thinking tool - the same way I
use chess and crossword puzzles (but modulars are more fun!) A modular will sharpen your mind +increase your mental calculational ability.

[nrdvrgr]

Been composing music since 1988, starting off with a SH-101.
Got introduced to modulars through a friend (PF on Muffs) some ten years ago and started with euroracks a few years ago. Always knew about Buchla, but it was first when stumbling upon Chris Muir´s website that I first heard the 200e. Fell in love instantly. Bought my first 200e modules in November last year and have been in heaven ever since. 18wls filled now.
40 years young.

[theboddy]

[amnesia]

To me the Buchla is the ultimate in synthesis and I love synthesis so much.
It was like a present to myself for all the years I have been making/releasing electronic music, since 1994.

I wanted a 200e since I saw it on the front of Sound On Sound.
Progression Casio FZ1- Arp Odyssey-Roland JP8-Oberheim OBXA and Xpander- many more synths then Serge - euro - Buchla

I am alive. No number attached.

[rick]

I got my first Buchla module in 2001.. a beat up, broken 227 with no power supply. I traded a PERFECT Mk1 VCS3 with Cricklewood for it.. (WHOOPS)

I was 25.. now I am 35 and am not really after any more Buchla stuff, tho i wouldn't mind a few of the 200e modules I am missing...and a couple of 200 series modules to fill some gaps

over the past 10 years I've owned, played, serviced or touched an example of pretty much everything Don made with exception of one or 2 of the 1 off modules/instruments...

I've serviced literally hundreds of modules from the 100, 200, 300, 200e and 500 series, assembled well over a hundred 200e modules, a couple dozen garages sale kits and repro cases/cabs and performed ground up restoration on over a dozen 100 and 200 series instruments for museums, studios, collectors and musicians including Aphex Twin, Suzanne Ciani, Don Buchla, Morton Subotnick/The US Library of Congress and Mills College (prototype).

I've also repaired/serviced 4 700s, 3 400s and a Touché.

seems like a lot when you figure its only been 10 years.. crikey.

[Lyonel]

[daindain]

I guess i'll chip in since Rick is in the process of repairing the reason i'm here...back when i was 15 or 16 (in the 80s) i took synthesizer lessons from an old jazz guy keyboard/sax player. He still is quite a character. He had an old 100 series in pieces in a cardboard box that looked like alien garbage sitting in his closet. The touch panels looked (and STILL look) like they came from under the ocean...i DREAMED about the sounds that thing could make!

When i asked about it, he would ramble in an endless crazy jazz scat monolog "yea man, but what i really want is a dodeca skippity doo...source of uncertainty beebop ba skwee..., arbitrary function tweebop ba boo...". These words sounded like nonsense alien words...and looking back most of them were. Jim had used a 200 system back in the 70s and fallen in love but he was mainly a moog user. But he would use the words source of uncertainty like they were magic quasi religion words...like your music would reach a higher plane of existance if you had this stuff...

Fast foward 20 years and i finally got Jim to send that old 100 series to Rick (after months of planning?). Its in terrible shape, but i hope someday to hear it play...maybe on its 50th birthday? (seriously Rick if he runs out of money, you can count on me)

Anyway im just shy of 40 and have had my 200e for 2 years or so...i think the progression was kawai K1...arp axxe...korg ms20... doepfer/electrocomp... buchla...higher plane of musical existance

[rick]

The 100 is in process Dain.. i am getting a cabinet made to house the modules/supply.. nice little system.



I'll have the modules finished by the time the woodman gets the cabinet together.

yes Jim is a trip.. seems like everyone into this stuff is a little nutty

[franzschuier]

Strange people they must be...

[daindain]

[daindain]

Wait i just saw the picture...were you shocked at the condition? Is it the worst on you've ever seen? I think it spent most of the early 80s outside in the texas weather!

[rick]

[djangosfire]

[momo]

I first read about Buchla (and pretty much everything else of this ilk) in Peter Forrest's A-Z series books in November 2003. The 200e was releaswed the year after, but I was naive and a newby and shied away after the initial non acceptance from 'the community'. I have to confess, Gordon Reid's damning review did water the flames too. Instead I went vintage with Roland, Korg and Sequential stuff. That's now almost all gone and their price stability / appreciation is what has made 200e ownership possible for me, I don't take that for granted for one second

I am 34 years old

[science]

I was born in 1902, purchased my first steam powered locomotive in 1903. After that, I got into meth for a while, and had to sell everything to support my growing habit.

Once I realized I could go to vegas and trade "blow for blow", things started looking up... then I bought a Buchla.

[dougcl]

My story is similar to Lyonel's. I'm a newbie to synthesizers since 2008.

[vgermuse]

Hello fellow Buchldians, ok. . . so. . . the very first synth I learned on was a friend’s Music Easel back in the mid-70’s. I was hooked on it then but couldn’t afford a Music Easel. In 1979 I took out a loan against my house (I was 30) and got a small Serge system (which I still have and love) then, took the money I was earning doing music and in 1981 got a Roland Jupiter-8. By the mid-80’s everyone around me was saying “analog was dead” and “digital was in” – I kept telling everyone that I thought "we still hadn’t explored analog to its true depth" – so. . . I guess people got tired of hearing me whine and gave me their old analog synths: OBXa, EML-101, more Serge panels, Arp Quadra, Moog Sonic Six, et al. It wasn’t until 2004 that I saved up enough to by my first Buchla and clearly I’ve become obsessed – now I can’t wait to retire and spend even more time with my Buchla modules (and other modulars)! 62 years old and counting…

[tIB]

[tIB]

[weinglas]

Reading all your great stories tells me: There is no "typical" Buchla user

I started as a band keyboarder with a Jen SX1000 and a Multivox MX3000 (what a cool synth/string ensemble/epiano that was) at the beginning of the 80s. Bought a lot of cool poly synths expensive to sell them some years later cheap

Then i got into Doepfer->Eurorack->Metasonix->Buchla
All cool stuff

[Oxix52]

My first synth was a little Yamaha CS-01. My brother and I pooled our money for that one. Fantastic little synth. I wish I still had it. From there, I had a string of synths: Korg DW6000, Yamaha, DX21, Roland D50 & D70, etc. Still have my Kurzweil 250 and SY99, the rest are gone. I had not heard of Buchla until the November 2005 issue of Keyboard magazine. Earlier that year I had gotten a Moog Voyager and had fallen in love with the immediacy and sound of the analog synth. The Buchla looked amazing but crazy. Of course, I was put off by the price and forgot about it for a few years. In 2009 I finally decided to go for it and ordered a few modules. It is my first and only modular so far and I love it!. I am 42.

[dkcg]

[mono-poly]

Been using modiulars for a while.
Got a collection of 100/200 and 3rd party modules.
Tried the 200e but i think it's a shitty instrument for me.

[panda30y]

Messed around with a few synths when I was in high school. Went to college, learned how to use modulars synths there with a Polyfusion system and Arp 2600.

Found out about Buchla systems while in college, dreamed of either a buchla or serge system. Finished school, started buying up used frac modules and moved out to Chicago for a studio internship. Tried a buchla for the first time while at one of the synth meets when Xart brought his system in. The work flow seemed so intuitive to me that I knew I prefered a buchla over the Serge. I eventually traded a jazzmaster for a Wiard 300 module and a little extra, got hooked and ended up with a full Wiard 300 system about a year after that.

After awhile I came to realize I really enjoyed the buchla more, and sold the Wiard 300 system over a year ago and bought a 200e system from Buchla!

I'm 27 years old, and I work way too much, but I get to play my buchla when I get to find some down time!

[Lyonel]

[tIB]

[mike sheridan]

Got my first computer when i was 4 (my dad works with computers), got into music at 9, made music for 7 years from that day and got into synths and gear when i was 16. My first modular when i was 18 (eurorack), started on buchla last year 2011 with just 3 modules....

This is the current situation.....



i'm 20......

[Minimoog56]

Always searched for avant garde electronic sounds since coming of age in the Ambient FrippEno era circa 71-4. Been interested even further back into the 60's SF Sound/Culture Trips Festival/Kerouac/Beats etc. Finally moved to Bay Area in '79 after 5 years B&F from Chicago. Gradually moved to Oakland, got hep and took in concerts at the Mills Music/Poetics scene - Always Moog first then Buchla second. (Bob is more cuddly than Don IMHO) first a sweet Minimoog D then Voyager (then Mini D+Voyager), then Euro then Buchla then MU. Expanded to two 18 cases then back down to 18 plus 2, now up to 24. Still, MU has been my fancy lately and the Buchla stares at me beckoning/cursing. First love is the Telecaster. Full circle around and around again and again

[wowarz]

Thank you guys.

Some interesting stories in here.

The first modular synth I've ever seen was in the mid 1980s at a bbq at one of my parents' friends - a ppg system.
I was pretty astonished of all those knobs and lights, even more when his son 10 years old, I was 7 back then, plugged in some cables, feedbacked the whole garden and got chased around the house by his father

I guess it has been that piuuuuuuuuwhaauugrrrrr conditioning me.

[Raglani]

Great thread. I'm almost 40 and I'm still in Euro. Gonna skip the Serge and go straight to Buchla. Hopefully before i hit 45.

[numan7]

i suppose i can legitimately call myself a "buchla user" since i own and use a cute little system 900 ('lightning')...

most of my modular system is 3u though; so i guess i'm not "typical".

cheers

[Hosaka]

[chrisso]

First exposure to a real synth, and a semi-modular at that, was in music college (1977/78), an ARP 2600 (still love those).
First modular was a Doepfer, mid90's. Very soon after that I progressed to Serge. At that stage I'd heard of Buchla, but the 200e hadn't come along and the smallest vintage Buchla (Easel) were already north of $10k.

[vav]

[xart]

[m0rb1d]

the 200 got me into modulars. i saw buchlajoe's videos and absolutely shit my pants.

such fascinating machines!

[eldancer]

Cool Thread !

I ' v discovered modular synths two years ago ... i ' don ' t remember why
one day i start watching some modulars videos on the net .
From that day , i was obsessed by these machines , so i start to think about
what kind of system i was going to buy .

First i was planning to go in euroracks , because i ' v never touched a modular before and it was not too expensive ,
so i was thinking that i could see if i like these machines .
Then i saw Lyonel ' s videos ...
and go straight into the Buchla ' s world

It change my all way to approach making music .
I ' m 37 .
Hey thanks Mister L . !

[mudlogger]

I read a really bad review about Buchla in Sound on Sound a few years ago - i looked at the price tag and forgot about it.

Never touched a modular (Euro) until just over a 1 year ago.

Now i'm 42 and in 1 weeks time i'll be waiting for the postman to arrive..on his motorbike....through the paddy field.

[Peake]

That was fun

[xpander]

i started using a 200-series back as a teenager in the later 90s. didn't start think about actually buying one until about 2007 after running in to don a couple times.

[7thDanSound]

Another interesting bit of information I just thought of: how much do you play your Buchla on a typical week?

Me, around 6-7 hours in all I think.

[rick]

interesting to see that people really started to get into Buchla stuff in the last 5 years or so.. wonder what was responsible for this?

after the stock/housing market crashed several years back i was getting emails almost daily from people wanting to put their $ in an old Buchla rather than sink it into stocks and homes.. alas as usual there was very little available for sale.

[nrdvrgr]

I'd blame Muffs. Without this forum the Buchla-boom would not have happened.

[cbm]

I feel like such a grey-beard with this story. I was fascinated by synths since I first heard / saw one in the late 1960s. In the beginning of the 1970s, I was lucky enough to live a couple doors down from Leo's Music (R.I.P.) when it was on College Avenue in Oakland, California. I got to be pretty good friends with (one of) their smartest sales guy(s), Bill Stevens. I got to teach myself synths at Leo's, and in the process teach some of the sales guys about them, and help out with technical knowledge on some sales. It was ideal because I got to influence what equipment was ordered for the store, so I got to play with it, but didn't have to come up with any cash. ("Hey Bill, let's get one of these.") In general, growing up in the San Francisco area was great, as far as exposure to music technology went, and odd music as well.

Fast forward a few years to 1976: college in Santa Cruz after a six year "gap year." By now I have an Oberheim SEM with all the patch points brought out, and a 360 Systems Slavedriver guitar interface. At school, I get to use a Buchla. It's really great, but no way I can afford one, so I sell the Oberheim to get funds to build a Serge, which at the time was the poor man's Buchla. I'm pretty happy with the Serge, but I still lust ofter a Buchla.

I get a job at Salamander Music Systems (SMS) in San Francisco. Salamander made pretty darn high end systems, and I obviously need one, so the Serge has to go in order to fund a large-ish SMS modular which I still have. I work my way up at Salamander until I'm designing some fairly complex stuff. After the dawn of MIDI and the release of the Yamaha DX-7, modular analogs seem like relics, so Salamander decides to focus on their bread and butter, lighting consoles, which makes me yawn, so it's off to other things.

For decades, I work at a few other music industry companies, as well as a few companies in other industries, eventually settling into a couple consulting gigs. I get a small inheritance right around the time the 200e is released, which I interpret as fate, so I sink this into a partially filled Buchla 18-spacer. It's early days for the 200e, so I make a bunch of demos, etc. It's really fun. While waiting for a planned, but oft-postoponed, consulting gig to finally materialize, I figure I can double my pleasure by making some Buchla-compatible modules that I would like to use. Post-Eardrill, my musical output drops to next to nothing. I really should have realized that I wouldn't much feel like playing my Buchla after working on it all day, but no.

[rick]

[sgnhh]

[divisionbyzero]

[renzo]

[Corbeau]

[amnesia]

[dkcg]

[rick]

[chrisso]

So it seems there is NO typical Buchla owner.
Which is a good thing IMO.

[m0rb1d]

UGH! the amount of evil, awful things i would do to just sit down with a 200 system and a packed bowl...

[Minimoog56]

[dkcg]

[Minimoog56]

yeah but the shipping made up for it!

[vassili]

[tIB]

I am 34, today I start buchla-ing.

[Tobor]

[richardm123uk]

I got into synths at a very young age. My Dad worked for a short time for EDP in the 70's so we had WASPS around the house. I bought a DX-7 in 1987 and an Atari ST & ROland R8.

I stopped music completely in 1995 but in 2008 got the Euro bug. Then in 2009 I discovered Buchla.

I use the Buchla and a Voyager along with Ableton and various plug-ins.

Basically the synths keep me sane. I could have spent $20,000 on therapy but the Buchla offers me greater therapy than any $200 an hour shrink could ever offer

I'm 41.

[PF]

Started 1987 with some cheap synths, Pro 1, SH09 etc.... In the same band as my Brother Nordvrgr, Have played through all synths, Jupiter, Oberheim's, Moog's, Arp and more, Got my first Doepfer euro modular 10 years ago and build it up to a monster 88U. Scaling down and got Macbeth M5N, Cwejman S1mkII, And after that my brother said you got to listen to some stuff i got, guess what it was, so he got me into Buchla world, have 18wls + more....... And now Serge... 44 years....

[dar303]

Started in 1987 with an amiga 500 computer, got into analog synths three years later and since I always was into electronics I started buying broken synths, fixing them and playing at various raves. I built a Formant modular system as my final project in school when I was 19 and at that time I found out about Buchla and Serge (through an old Whole Earth Catalog my mom had I think!). Then I got a job, bought more synths, moved to Stockholm to work at the national radio for 8 years. During that time I got called by a studio in town that had a few broken synths they needed fixing...it was a big 200, a 5 panel Serge and another portable/foldable 200 sitting in a storage room!
I fixed them up and a couple of years later I got the opportunity to start working there as studio engineer and I'm now putting together my dream Buchla system into a custom 60 module cabinet on paid work time, it feels like a dream!
I have gotten a lot of help from Rick, Jon, Mark and various other knowledgable and nice guys from the Buchla maffia, big thanks to you guys!
I'm 35.

[MindMachine]

[Badr0b0t]

I was into synths since I was a kid. My dad had some and was an electronics guy. I'm 41.

I blame Deadmau5, Jon Schatz and Shawn Cleary from AH for the Eurorack and Buchlas. Joel(deadmau5) who's a friend inspired me to spend 3.6k on a small eurorack system. At the time I couldn't believe how much money it was but when it arrived.. that Doepfer 9U case.. well it was heaven. Shawn was on the phone with me for about an hour walking me through it. Such a nice guy. That kicked me off.

The very next day was the AH event at the Hacker Dojo. I saw Jon Schatz, others, DougCl take his delivery of the Buchla. I loved the euro stuff but the Buchla looked amazing.

Jon was kind enough to introduce me to the Buchla personally at his house since I live so close by. From there I intended to spend $5k but I went nuts and spent $11.5k. I got it home and played with it and actually freaked out that I'd spent too much money and emailed him about returning it. Thankfully.. the next day I changed my mind. I stuck with it and I am in love. I now have two cases full of Buchla and more eurorack among other toys. I love music tech on the computer, regular synths and modulars, touch interfaces, etc. It's all fun to me.

Sadly, I've been so busy in my life the last few months I've not had any time on my systems and I've barely been to muffs or made any videos. I'm hoping that will change later this year.

Anyway, big thanks to everyone in the community is needed to. So many great and helpful folks out there and here on Muffs in particular.

-Ron[/s]

[Guidotoons]

I bought my first modular in 1975... a Moog 15.

Since then I've been in and out of the modular world. I have made my living from music full time since I was around 20 or so.

Now I'm scaling back my entire musical instrument collection as I really wanna travel more.

I'm 57 in two months.

[momo]

An unexpectedly great thread

[xpander]

[cbm]

[djangosfire]

[Oxix52]

Before I got my Buchla, I wanted to get a Ducati. My wife said "no" so I said I would get a Buchla instead. Little does she know that the Ducati would have been cheaper

[rattlework]

Hearing Morton Subotnick and Herbie Hancock's "Crossings" which had Patrick Gleeson on modular synthesizer in the 70's left a lasting impression on me but I had little money to start a modular system then.
I owned many different synths and pianos during the 80's but nothing really fulfilled my electronic music instrument cravings for very long.

Then in 2010, I read about the Monome on Stretta's blog and that led me to muffwiggler which rekindled my modular dream. Soon after, I ordered my first Eurorack 9U system and then 4 months later, after much deliberation and many 200e demos I ordered a small Buchla system. I knew I would not be happy until I could work with a 200e. I could always sell if it didn't live up to its claims. It did and it sounds amazing. I now have 11 modules it is still growing.

[Scories]

I don't know much about so-called 'typical Buchla users' but all I can say is that they are much more active on this forum than the Serge users.

[amnesia]

Serge has its own forum called Erges.

I dont think the Buchla is really that much more different than all the modulars about today, obviously there are a few differences but we aint different humans because of it.

Or are we?

I think a better question is what is a typical Buchla.

[m0rb1d]

all the other serge forums are dead for the most part, i guess the serge folk just arent that active on the interwebz.

[Reality Checkpoint]

Quadslope is still up and running for Serge users!

http://quadslope.com/

[momo]

[fredguy]

[modularfreak]

I had a Ducati and a Buchla 200e simultaneously up until last year, sold both with next to no regret.

There are "things" which are more important to me - nature, friends, good health...

[science]

[dkcg]

[dkcg]

doublepost


Seems like there's a lot more doubleposts due to slow server speed lately...

[bwhittington]

[modularfreak]

No, of course, but there are "categories" of significance - you will certainly agree.

Owning a Buchla system is neither the culmination of life nor musical instruments ownership - it is just a luxury experience that I was happy to have had and I wish everyone is able to have as well.

[dkcg]

[chrisso]

[modularfreak]

I had a Ducati Monster and nearly killed myself driving 240 km/h...there is no comparable risk owning a Buchla 200e as far as I know - maybe increasing debts...both are real beauties!

[modularfreak]

Completely agreed - it is a musical tool hopefully part of a toolbox as there are usually different tasks.

[chrisso]

Yep.

Working on synth drum samples this week using my Buchla.

[Muff Wiggler]

[amnesia]

I once owned a Serge and was uninteresting to women.
Now I have a Buchla all the women love me :-)

[science]

[Fidgit]

[dkcg]

[Reality Checkpoint]

[Nils]

Quadslope: Not sure why there's no register link, but the forum itself is active for registered members. It's a small forum with infrequent activity, but there are some very knowledgeable Serge heads there. The forum has released two compilation albums, with a third on the way.

We've had new members added lately. I think they've contacted one of the mods directly.

I think all of the mods are muff members: sascha.victoria, bartlebooth, parasitk, hexenduction, smitty, confusional. I might be forgetting someone.